Apparatus for assembly of electron devices



Dec. 8, 1964 F. SMART 3,159,904

APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLY OF ELECTRON DEVICES Filed Aug. 13, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 WITNESSES f INVENTOR 4 Ernes? F. Smurf.

ATTORNEY Dec. 8, 1964 E. F. SMART 3,159,904

APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLY OF ELECTRON DEVICES Filed Aug. 13, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent M 3,159,904 APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLY OF ELECTRON DEVICES Ernest F. Smart, Bath, N.Y., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, 132., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Aug. 13, 1962, Ser. No. 216,651 6 Claims. (Cl. 2925.19)

This invention relates to electron devices and more particularly to apparatus for assembling such electron devices.

There have been many attempts from time to time to either partially or wholly mechanize the assembly of receiving tubes, but most of these procedures have not been adopted by the tube industry for various reasons. In copending applications, Serial No. 788,606, entitled Apparatus and Method of Assembly for Electron Discharges by C. F. Miller et al. filed January 23, 1959, now US. Patent 3,081,520, and Serial No. 862,610, entitled Apparatus and Method of Assembly of Electron Discharge Devices by E. F. Smart et al., filed December 31, 1959, now U.S. Patent 3,081,521, there is disclosed an assembly method and apparatus. The method and apparatus disclosed therein has overcome several major drawbacks in the previous mechanized art and has been found to substantially reduce the cost of manufacture of receiving tubes.

In these above copending applications, the assembly operation still required a considerable amount of operator time in that the jig member on which the cage assembly is mounted had to be moved from station to station in which an electrode is assembled into the cage structure. In addition, the above copending' applications required the operator to position the top mica spacer upon the electrode cage and then remove the electrode cage from the jig member.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide an improved apparatus for'assembling electrode members Within an electrode cage.

It is another object to provide an improved apparatus for assembling a top mica spacer to the electrode cage of a receiving tube.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved apparatus for mounting electrodes within an electrode cage onto a jig member and then removing the electrode cage from the jig member.

Briefly, the present invention accomplishes the abovecited objects by providing an apparatus in which the bottom mica spacer is positioned on a jig member. The electrodes and the top mica spacer are mounted within a guide assembly means and in one rectilinear movement of the guiding assembly the entire cage assembly is se cured. The return of the guide assembly to its normal load position removes the electrode cage from the jig member.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out in particularity in the claims annexed toand forming a part of the specification.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus incorporating the teaching of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus in FIG. 1 in which the electrode cage parts are loaded into the apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the apparatus in FIG. 1 in which the elements of the electrode cage are positioned and aligned just prior to longitudinal movement of the loading member;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the apparatus in FIG. 1 in which the elements of the electrode cage is assembled and locked; and

FIG. 5 illustrates the electrode cage assembled by the apparatus in FIG. 1.

Referring in detail to FIG. 5, there is shown a perspective view of an electrode cage 19. The cage 11) is for a rectifier tube of the type 5U4. The cage 10 includes a bottom spacer 12 and a top spacer 14 with two anode members 16 and 18 secured between the two spacers 12 and 14. The spacers 12 and 14 are of a suitable material such as mica. Apertures are provided within the spacers 12 and 14 in a well known manner; Extensions or ears of the anode members 16 and 18 project through the apertures in the spacers 12 and 14 and are secured within the electrode cage. Each anode 16 and 18 is provided with two outer extensions 22 and an inner extension 24. The inner extension 24 is deformed after insertion as illustrated in FIG. 5 to lock the bottom and top spacers 12 and 14 to the anodes 16 and 18. The electrode cage 19 iliustrated in FIG. 5 after assembly by the apparatus described herein, is then taken to another location in which the filaments are mounted within the anodes 16 and 18 of the tube. The electrode cage 10 is then spot welded to a button stem member which contains the necessary lead-in members for the tube and then an envelope is positioned over the electrode cage 11). The envelope is then exhausted and sealed 011 to provide a 5U4 full wave rectifier tube.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4, the assembly apparatus includes a base plate member 30 having a jig assembly 46) and a loading mechanism 50 located thereon. The jig assembly 45') consists of a base member 41 to which an arm member 42 is hinged to permit rotation of the arm member 42 from a horizontal to a vertical position. A jig member 43 is attached to the free end of the arm 42. This type of mounting permits the jig member or fixture 43 to be rotated about a horizontal axis. The jig fixture 43 is shown in the vertical position in FIGS. 1 and 2. The face of the jig fixture 43 includes two grooves 44 and 45 which permit entry of the ears 22 on the anodes 16 and 18 after passing through apertures in the bottom spacer 12. Two notches 46 and 47 are provided on the face of the fixture 43 in which the serrated edge of the spacer 12 is positioned as indicated in FIG. 2 and held upon the face of the jig fixture 43. The notches 46 and 47 hold the spacer 12 in position when the jig member 43 is rotated to the horizontal position. In addition, grooves 48 and 49 are provided which receive the ears 24 of the anodes 16 and 18 deform or bend these ears 24 into the position as indicated in FIG. 5. This operation of loading the bottom spacer 12 onto the jig fixture 43 is normally done by hand while the jig fixture 43 is positioned in a vertical orientation. This is illustrated in FIG. 2.

After this operation, the jig fixture 43 is rotated to a horizontal position facing the loading mechanism 50 as illustrated in FIG. 3. The side surface of the jig fixture 43 rests on a jig fixture guide member 51 to position the jig fixture in the proper horizontal position. Stop members 52 are provided on each side of the jig fixture 43 when in the horizontal position so as to properly align the jig fixture 43 in the horizontal plane with respect to the loading mechanism 50. i

The loading assembly =50 consists of a slide block 54 which is secured to the base plate 30 with a groove or channel 56 therein in which a movable slide bar 58 is provided. A cover 53 retains the slide bar 58 within the groove 56. The slide bar 58 is provided at the forward portion with at least two open ended cradles 60 and 62 into which the anodes 16 and 18 are respectively posi- 3,159,964 Patented Dec. 8, 1964 snsaaoa 3 tioned as indicated in FIG. 2. The cradles or channels 69 and 62 are shaped tohold the anodes 16 and 18 and permit longitudinal sliding movement or" the anodes '16 and 18 therein.

A recessed opening '64 is provided to the rear of the cradles and 62 to allow the top spacer 14 to be inserted in a vertical position as illustrated in FIG. 2. Two p ojection locating pins 66 and 68 are provided on a vertical face portion 76'. Apertures 72 and'74 are provided in the top spacer 14. The spacer 14 is positioned against the vertical face 79 with the projection pins and 6S extending through the apertures 72 and 74 respectively. In addition, there are grooves 76 and 78 corresponding to the grooves 48 and 49 in the fixture 43 provided in the vertical face of the slide bar 58. The grooves 76 and 78 are adapted to receive the anode ears 24 and deform them. The anode cars '24 at the opposite end of the anodes 16 and 18 with respect to the fixture 43 are deformed in assembly by grooves 76 and 78 to secure both the top and bottom spacers 12 and 14 to the anodes 16 and 18 as illustrated in FIG. 5.

Also positioned on the slide bar 58 is a hinged spring loaded compensator lid member 89. The position of the compensator lid iii) illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is in the load position which is substantially vertical while the permit longitudinal sliding movement of the anodes 16 1 and 18. v

In the operation of the assembly aid, the operator top loads the bottom spacer 12 onto the face of the vertically positioned jig member 43. The top spacer 14 is inserted into the recess 64 and fixed in positionon the vertical face 70 by means of the projection pins 65 and 68 which pass through the apertures 72 and 74 in the top spacer 14. The operator also loads the anodes 16 and 18 into the channels 60 and 62, respectively. The loaded assembly is illustrated in FIG. 2.

The operator then rotates the jig member 43 to its horizontal position. The jig member 45 in the horizontal position as illustrated in FIG. 3 is in alignment with the loading assembly 50. The operator then rotates the compensator lid 80 to a horizontal position as illustrated in FIGaS.

While the compensator lid 80 is in this position, the operator moves the slide bar assembly 58'forward by pushing on the compensator lid 80. The slide bar 58 carries the anodes 16 and 18 and the top spacer 14 forward so that the extensions 22 and 24 on the anodes 16 and 18 pass through the apertures in the bottom spacer 12 and engage the face of the jig fixture 43 so that the anode ears, or extensions 24 are deformed. The'ears 24 strike the side of the notchesdd and 49 and are deformed. The anodes 16 and 18 in striking the face of the fixed jig fixture 43 slide longitudinally within the slidable engagement provided within the cradles 6t) and 62 respectively and the channels 82 and 84 respectively. As a result, the other end ofl'the anodes 16 and '18 have their extensions 22 and 24 pushed through the apertures provided in the top spacer 14. The notches 76 and 78 on the vertical face 70 deform the ears or extension 24 to lock the top spacer 14 to the anodes 16 and 18. The deformation of the ears 24 at both ends of the anodes, 16 and 18 is accomplished by the jamming force applied between the face of the jig member 43 and the face 70. The compensator lid 80 not 1 only corrects shapes of the anodes 16 and '18 if the anodes 16 and 18 happens to be twisted but it also aligns the anodes 16 and 18 with respect to the top and bottom spacers 12 and 14. When the operatorreleases the com- 1 pensator lid 8d, the lid 89 will move up due to the spring loading thereon. In addition the movement of the slide bar 58 to the rear due to spring loading will remove the electrode cage 10 from the jig fixture 43 since the top spacer 14 is held within the recess 64. A stop portion 90 is also provided on the slide bar 58 whichengages the member 53 in its forward position so as to adjust the proper amount of forward movement of the slide bar 58 in the forward'movement or load position. A resilient shock-absorber member 92 is positioned on the slide bar 58 and engages the member 53 when the slide bar 58 returns to its load position.

While the present invention has been shown in only one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art it is not so limited but is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope thereof;

I claim as my invention:

1. Apparatus for assembling an electrode cage of an electron discharge device comprising a jig member com prising a first surface adapted for holding a first spacer in a vertical position, a loading assembly including a slide member means slidably supported within said loading assembly and movable in'a horizontal plane toward and away from said first spacer, said slide means including a horizontal surface in'which an electrode maybe top loaded and horizontally positioned, said slide means including a second surface adapted to receive and position a second spacer in a vertical position, means provided for holding said electrode upon said horizontal surface in a position whereby outer end portions of said electrode are aligned withapertures provided in said first spacer and said second spacer.

2. Apparatus for assembling an electrode cage of an electron discharge device comprising a jig member comprising a first holding surface adapted for holding a first spacer in a vertical position, a loading assembly including a slide member means slidably supported within said loading assembly and movable in a horizontal plane toward and away from said first spacer, said slide member means.

including a horizontal surface in which an electrode may be horizontally positioned, said slide member means including a second holding surface adapted to receive and position a second spacer in a vertical position, means provided forholding said electrode upon said horizontal surface whereby the outer ends of said electrode are aligned with apertures provided in said first spacer and said sec- 0nd spacer and means provided on the first and second holdingsurfaces for deforming the ends of said electrode to fasten said first and second spacers to the ends of said electrode.

3. Apparatus for assembling an electrode cage of an electron discharge devicecomprising a first spacer holding member, said first spacer holding member comprising a substantially planar face withmeans provided for securing a first spacer thereto, said first spacer holding member being movable so that said first spacer may be loaded thereon While in a substantial horizontal plane and then rotated to an assembled position so that the first spacer is in a substantially vertical plane, a loading assembly positioned adjacent of said first spacer holding member including a slidable holding means slidably supported 7 Within said loading assembly and movable toward and away from said first spacer, said slidable holding means including a horizontal channel into which an electrode is horizontally positioned, said slidable holding means provided with a second spacer holding means adapted. to receive and position a second spacer in a plane substantially parallelto the plane of said first spacer,-means for holding said electrode within said horizontally provided surfaces whereby on movement of said slidable holding means toward said first spacer the outer ends of said electrode are inserted into apertures provided in said first spacer and said. second spacer, said means for holding said electrode providing means in movement of the slidable hold- 5 111 3118 a ay from said first spacer to remove said electrode cage including said first spacer from said first spacer holding member.

4. Apparatus for assembling an electrode cage of an electron discharge device comprising a first holding member, said first movable holding member comprising a substantially planar face which provides means of securing a first spacer thereto, said first holding member being movable to position said first spacer in a vertical plane, a loading assembly including a second holding means slidably supported within said loading assembly and movable toward and away from said first spacer, said second holding means including a horizontal channel into which an electrode is horizontally positioned, said second holding means including a vertical surface with projecting pins adapted to receive said second spacer with said pins passing through apertures provided in said second spacer, means for positioning said electrode within said horizontally provided surfaces whereby on movement of said second holding means toward said first spacer the end of said electrode is inserted into apertures provided in said first spacer and the other end of said electrode is inserted into apertures provided in said second spacer and means provided on said spacer holder surface and said vertical surface of said slide member for deforming the ends of said electrodes passing through said spacers to secure said first and second spacers to said electrode.

5. Apparatus for assembling an electrode cage for an electron discharge device comprising a jig member for holding at least a first spacer member in a vertical position, a loading assembly in alignment with said first spacer member, said loading assembly including a slide member slidably supported within said loading assembly and movable toward and away from said first spacer, said slide member including horizontally positioned electrode holding means for holding an electrode and a vertical spacer holding surface with means provided thereon for holding a second spacer in a vertical position and in a plane substantially parallel to said first spacer member and perpendicular to the movement of said slide member, a movable clamping member having surfaces for engaging the upper surfaces of said electrode to position said electrode 6 in proper alignment with said first and second spacer members whereby when said slide member is moved toward said first spacer member the end portions of said.

electrode are inserted into apertures provided in said first spacer and the other end portions of said electrode are inserted into apertures provided in said second spacer and means provided on the surface of said jig member and said vertical surface for deforming the end portions of said electrode to secure said electrode to said first and second spacers.

6. Apparatus for assembling an electrode cage for an electron discharge device comprising a jig member for holding at least a first spacer member in a vertical position, a loading assembly in alignment with said first spacer member, said loading assembly including a slide member slidably supported within said loading assembly and movable toward and away from said first spacer, said slide member including horizontally positioned electrode holding means for holding an electrode and a vertical spacer holding surface with means provided thereon for holding a second spacer means in a vertical position and in a plane substantially parallel to said first spacer member, a movable clamping member having surfaces for engaging the upper surfaces of said electrode to position said electrode in proper alignment with said first and second spacer members whereby when said slide member is moved toward said first spacer member the end portions of said electrode are inserted into apertures provided in said first spacer and the other end portions of said electrode are inserted into apertures provided in said second spacer and means provided on the surface of said jig member and said vertical surface for deforming the end portions of said electrode to secure said electrode to said first and second spacers and as said slide member moves away from said jig member said electrode cage is disengaged from said jig member.

No references cited.

RICHARD H. EANES, JR., Primary Examiner.

WH ITMORE A. WILTZ, Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING AN ELECTRODE CAGE OF AN ELECTRON DISCHARGE DEVICE COMPRISING A JIG MEMBER COMPRISING A FIRST SURFACE ADAPTED FOR HOLDING A FIRST SPACER IN A VERTICAL POSITION, A LOADING ASSEMBLY INCLUDING A SLIDE MEMBER MEANS SLIDABLY SUPPORTED WITHIN SAID LOADING ASSEMBLY AND MOVABLE IN A HORIZONTAL PLANE TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAID FIRST SPACER, SAID SLIDE MEANS INCLUDING A HORIZONTAL SURFACE IN WHICH AN ELECTRODE MAY BE TOP LOADED AND HORIZONTALLY POSITIONED, SAID SLIDE MEANS INCLUDING A SECOND SURFACE ADAPTED TO RECEIVE AND POSITION A SECOND SPACER IN A VERTICAL POSITION, MEANS PROVIDED FOR HOLDING SAID ELECTRODE UPON SAID HORIZONTAL SURFACE IN A POSITION WHEREBY OUTER END PORTIONS OF SAID ELECTRODE ARE ALIGNED WITH APERTURES PROVIDED IN SAID FIRST SPACER AND SAID SECOND SPACER. 